Temple and baby emus

Dru and I finally made it to the temple together.  The temple here is almost 2 hours away in Oakland.  The weekend before we went we watched some friends' kids for the day so that they could do.  They watched ours for us so we could go.  I was so worried about being away from Dalia for so long.  She doesn't do too well with people she doesn't know well.  She won't even go to nursery by herself.  We got there a little later than we had anticipated and ended up having to wait for the session that started an hour later than the one we wanted.  This temple is so much bigger than the Dallas temple and I kept getting turned around.  This session was the biggest I'd ever attended.  It was amazing.  We had a lovely time, but I really couldn't wait to get back to my girls.  Mina had a blast and didn't want to leave and Dalia didn't do as bad as I thought she would.  She was glad to see us, though.

The Baileys called to let us know that the rest of the emu chicks had hatched.  They ended up having to rescue them because the dads started fighting and hurting the babies.  They brought them in the house and they were still small enough and calm enough to hold.  Mina was all over that.  She had such a good time holding and petting the babies.  Dalia, once she got out of her "mood," enjoyed them, too.

Valentine's day and another day at the beach

The girls and I cut out and painted some hearts for Dru while he was at work.  The girls even made some hand prints.  I made Dru a certificate good for 5 foot or back massages.  Dru wrote me a little book complete with illustrations.  It was a little odd, but I enjoyed it and appreciate the work he did for me.  He's so goofy.  We went out to dinner as a family to the Black Bear Diner.  It was a delicious and the girls always love going there to see all the bears.

That weekend we headed to the beach with some friends.  Dru wore his wet suit this time so he could get in the water.  We brought a couple boogie boards and he pretty much had a blast.  The waves got pretty big so I'm glad he didn't get hurt at all.  I had fun taking pictures, building sand castles with the girls and burying Mina in the sand.  Dalia loves to grab sand in both hands, throw it in the air and yell, "surprise!"  It's so cute. Dalia is also very brave and loves to stand in the water with Dru.  They wait for waves to come and as they do he lifts her up really fast so she doesn't get too wet.  Mina likes to play a game with me where we hold hands and get as close to the water's edge as we dare, make footprints and wait for waves to come.  If one starts to get to close we run away and see if the wave gets our prints.  Dalia also stuck her head in the sand and just sat there for a while.  She does that occasionally and we're not sure why.  She is silly.

Mardi Gras

A good part of my childhood was spent in Louisiana, pretty close to New Orleans.  Mardi Gras is very much celebrated there and we even had Mardi Gras parties in school, complete with king cakes and miniature float competitions.  I remember dragging my homemade float down the halls in parade fashion for all to see.  We went to parade after parade every year and would come home with beads, dabloons and little toys galore.  I remember having so much fun every year during Mardi Gras season.  I get excited when Mardi Gras rolls around every year, even to this day.  I've always wanted to have my own little Mardi Gras party and at least have a king cake to enjoy.  This year I decided to do it.  I took the girls to Party City to buy a few masks and beads and then I searched for an authentic king cake recipe.  The cake turned out very well.  I only wish I hadn't put the lemon juice in the icing.  I knew I wouldn't like it.  I don't typically like lemon flavored desserts, but the girls enjoyed it, I enjoyed it and I'm pretty sure Dru enjoyed it.  We didn't do much except wear our masks and eat the cake.  Dru had meetings to go to that night, so he wasn't even here, but it brought back lots of fun childhood memories.